Quotes of the day

posted at 8:01 pm on February 24, 2013 by Allahpundit

The automatic budget cuts set to take hold this week were roundly condemned Sunday as governors, lawmakers and administration officials hoped for a deal to stave off the $85 billion reduction in government services.

Suggestions intended to instill a spirit of compromise included bringing all sides to the bargaining table, where they could act like “adults, a presidential summit at Camp David and even a field trip to watch “Lincoln.”…

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., called … defense cuts “unconscionable” and urged Obama to call lawmakers to the White House or the presidential retreat of Camp David for a last-minute budget summit.

“I won’t put all the blame all on the president of the United States. But the president leads. The president should be calling us over somewhere — Camp David, the White House, somewhere — and us sitting down and trying to avert these cuts,” McCain said.

***

Head Start and programs for children with parents in the military could also be hurt by the $85 billion in sequester cuts, Duncan said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“We don’t have any ability with dumb cuts like this to figure out what the right thing to do is,” Duncan said. “It just means a lot more children will not get the kinds of opportunities and services they need.”…

“We are just saying — as you identify the federal cuts and savings — give us flexibility to make the cuts where they will do the least harm to our citizens,” said Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, a Republican and the vice chairwoman of the association. “Don’t balance the federal budget on the backs of state governments.”

Gov. Jack Markell of Delaware, a Democrat and the chairman of the association, said: “Deficit reduction should not be accomplished simply by shifting costs from the federal government to the states or by imposing unfunded mandates. States should be given increased flexibility to create efficiencies and to achieve results.”…

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a Republican, said Congress should be “more strategic” in making cuts.

“There will be [an] impact on national security, there is no doubt. And I think there’s some misnomers. So it’s really only 2 cents on the dollar over the whole federal budget, but they’ve scrunched that down into seven months and highlighted, or at least put most of the burden on the Defense Department. So that is going to have an impact. That’s a 13 percent cut,” Rogers said.

Rogers went on to argue for giving the departments responsible for making the cuts “flexibility” to ensure the cuts are made wisely as opposed to indiscriminately.

“There’s a big difference from a sailor on the Eisenhower out in the Mediterranean and the travel coordinator at the EPA. You can’t treat them the same. And the way this is structured it treats everyone the same. Can’t do that,” Rogers said. “We have intelligence operations that could get slowed down or stopped. That’s a problem.”

***

Obama has not resorted to full finger-shaking, red-faced exhorting. Why not? Here are three reasons in order of significance:

1. Any deal that comes from the White House will not pass muster with House Republicans. So every effort must start and end in Congress. That is an incontrovertible political truth.

2. There are no cage-rattlers at the White House. Rahm Emanuel was a cage-rattler. He was capable of making ripples that could tip dynamics and make the incontrovertible… controvertible. The White House today is much quieter. There are no huge, saber-teeth personalities.

3. The agencies are doing the job for him. From flight delays to FBI furloughs, entities that are more trusted than politicians are giving the lowdown to the media, which is repeating it. The projected misery is what will influence public opinion, which, in turn, might influence Congress.

[I]n meetings with rank-and-file members and around the leadership table early in this Congress, House Republican leaders floated the idea of putting another such bill on the floor. What they found is that members had no appetite to vote on such a bill again, according to one GOP leadership aide.

“The conference feels that we’ve made our point by passing the sequester replacement act two times,” the aide said.

***

“The good news is, the world doesn’t end March 2. The bad news is, the world doesn’t end March 2,” said Emily Holubowich, a Washington health-care lobbyist who leads a coalition of 3,000 nonprofit groups fighting the cuts. “The worst-case scenario for us is the sequester hits and nothing bad really happens. And Republicans say: See, that wasn’t so bad.”…

“It would be a big problem for the White House if the sequester came and went and nobody really noticed anything. Then people will start saying, ‘Well, maybe we can cut spending,” said John H. Makin, a resident scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute who penned a recent Wall Street Journal piece titled “Learning to Love the Sequester.”

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“I won’t put all the blame all on the president of the United States. But the president leads. The president should be calling us over somewhere — Camp David, the White House, somewhere — and us sitting down and trying to avert these cuts,” McCain said.

The White House on Sunday detailed how deep spending cuts set to begin this week would affect programs in every state and the District, as President Obama launched a last-ditch effort to pressure congressional Republicans to compromise on a way to stop the across-the-board cuts.

But while Republicans and Democrats were set to introduce dueling legislative proposals this week to avert the Friday start of the spending cuts, known as the sequester, neither side expected the measures to get enough support to pass Congress.
(More,…)
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If the corrective actions aren’t taken in the immediate present tense then what you’re looking at is the outcome that will happen, and when that outcome occurs immediate collapse of the government’s funding model is assured.

This is not speculative — it is arithmetic.

The only option The Fed would have would into such an event would be to try to “QE” the difference via what at that point amount to completely-phony auctions and “open market operations” on top of what it’s doing now — that is, roughly double the destruction of purchasing power that is taking place today via their “QE-to-infinity.”

But that simply transfers the deficit to the population directly via that destruction of purchasing power and it falls almost-entirely on the bottom two quintiles of the income spectrum.

That’s a recipe for a nearly-guaranteed civil war as you will generate over 100 million Americans with nothing to lose.

“That’s where I think we should be spending our time, is talking about how we reduce gun violence. That’s the productive use of our time,” Duncan said. “Spending time talking about stupid issues like this in Congress doesn’t make sense.”

The constitution specifically gives Congress the responsibility for federal spending, and also specifically prohibits them from infringing on Americans’ right to bear arms.

So apparently in Duncan’s view, it’s more important for Congress to be “productive” than to actually perform their duties as required by the constitution.

Shouldn’t be hard to find places to cut a mere $80 billion. Start with Head Start, which study after study has confirmed has no lasting benefit, and which is a program that the federal government has no business funding in the first place. In fact, Congress should eliminate the entire Department of Education, since education is the responsibility of the states and not the federal government. Then eliminate NPR, another bogus, extra-constitutional waste of money. Then, start enforcing the federal laws which prohibit illegal aliens from receiving welfare benefits like food stamps, etc. — laws which Obama has been blatantly and illegally ignoring for years now.

Just these few things will eliminate far more than $80 billion a year. Our national security will not be compromised, our soldiers will not have their paychecks cut, and the TSA morons can continue groping little children and the terminally ill at airports all over the U.S.

“The White House on Sunday detailed how deep spending cuts set to begin this week would affect programs in every state and the District, as President Obama launched…..”
canopfor on February 24, 2013 at 8:25 PM

That was all I could read…
Obama launched this bill…
Then wants Congress to protect him..from himself..
LiB

Nothing really happens on the day after the so called cuts go into effect. The MSM will need to be very fastidious in promoting the hell out every made up calamitous story it can find on the world ending results of budget cuts, or no one will notice anything.

I’m curious to see how far they’ll go, and what will be blamed on the sequester. This thing is going to be responsible for more events than global warming.

Fill a large pot with lightly salted water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat. Stir in the egg noodles; return to a boil. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the noodles are cooked through, but still firm to the bite, about 5 minutes. Drain; return to the pot and stir in the butter.
Meanwhile, place the bacon in a large, deep skillet, and cook over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Drain the bacon slices on a paper towel-lined plate.
Place the onion into the skillet with the bacon grease, and cook and stir over medium heat until the onion begins to soften, about 2 minutes. Stir in the cabbage, and cook and stir until wilted, about 5 minutes. Chop the bacon, add it to the skillet, and cook until the cabbage is tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the noodles, and continue cooking just until heated through.

The Republicans (as usual) are letting the Democrats get away with murder. The House has passed a bill, they’re waiting for the Senate to pass one so they can go to conference and negotiate. Every Republican that goes on the media needs to bash that point into the ground: the Democrats refuse to negotiate with us.

The Democratic plan would delay the sequester until January, replacing the across-the-board cuts with a mix of $110 billion worth of new tax revenue and more-narrowly tailored spending cuts. It includes $54 billion in revenue by ensuring that that most millionaires pay at least 30 percent of their income to the Internal Revenue Service — something that prompted McConnell to dismiss it immediately as a tax that could not pass.

The GOP plan is still being crafted. Officials said Sunday it might include a provision that would leave the sequester in place but allow more flexibility for agency leaders in imposing the cuts.

“Rather than issuing last-minute press releases on cuts to first responders or troop training or airport security,

Both sides, however, have acknowledged that neither offer is designed to win passage and is instead meant to frame the debate in the coming weeks over how they want their rank and file to defend their position back home. Some of the 55 members of the Democratic caucus may even oppose Reid’s plan — particularly farm-state Democrats, because it cuts agriculture subsidies.

“I won’t put all the blame all on the president of the United States. But the president leads. The president should be calling us over somewhere — Camp David, the White House, somewhere — and us sitting down and trying to avert these cuts,” McCain said.

.
.
The President’s lead is exactly the one we DON’T want to (expletive) follow ….. what the (expletive) is the (expletive) WRONG with you, Senator ? !

“Saving America,” the Hannity special with Dr. Ben Carson, is on again tonight on FOX at 9:00 pm. If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and watch. It’s nice, once in a while, to listen to a soft-spoken neurosurgeon with an abundance of common sense.

Didn’t the House pass a bill like months ago to replace the sequester?

Funny how that never gets mentioned.

gophergirl on February 24, 2013 at 8:45 PM

To his credit, Chris Wallace brought it up today and Claire McCaskill kept sputtering “that was the LAST congress…this is a NEW congress, there’s nothing on the table now!!11!!!1″ Glad I wasn’t in the studio because I probably would’ve punched her.

“All the momentum in House Republican circles now is for keeping the sequester as is. I don’t see how any sequester replacement bill could get any oxygen for the foreseeable future,” one Republican aide said…

What benefit does the GOP get from doing otherwise. Keep in mind this is nothing more than cutting the amount of spending of government by 2.2% No real cuts. Essentially we are asking the federal government to spend like they did in 2011.

But that is only half the story. The rat-eared wonder wants to make you think that planes will be dropping out of the sky on Friday as a result of sequestration happening. The reality is that any furloughs are at least 30 days away. There is plenty of time to avoid the worst aspects of sequestration after it becomes law. That is why there is no real sense of urgency. That is why the enemy sends out its minions to suggest otherwise.

“Saving America,” the Hannity special with Dr. Ben Carson, is on again tonight on FOX at 9:00 pm. If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and watch. It’s nice, once in a while, to listen to a soft-spoken neurosurgeon with an abundance of common sense.

February 15, 2013 Sean Hannity ran a full hour special featuring Dr. Benjamin Carson called “Saving America”. This is the full version of the special without commercial interruption.
Show your support at: http://www.Facebook.com/Carson2016
“Carson 2016 has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?”
*************************************************

To his credit, Chris Wallace brought it up today and Claire McCaskill kept sputtering “that was the LAST congress…this is a NEW congress, there’s nothing on the table now!!11!!!1″ Glad I wasn’t in the studio because I probably would’ve punched her.

IrishEi on February 24, 2013 at 8:52 PM

Akin, you idiot, you hit your ceiling but you were too arrogant to admit it.

To his credit, Chris Wallace brought it up today and Claire McCaskill kept sputtering “that was the LAST congress…this is a NEW congress, there’s nothing on the table now!!11!!!1″ Glad I wasn’t in the studio because I probably would’ve punched her.

IrishEi on February 24, 2013 at 8:52 PM

Well that does make me feel a little better.

They are all a bunch of no good liars. Every last one of them with a D after their name and even some with an R.

To his credit, Chris Wallace brought it up today and Claire McCaskill kept sputtering “that was the LAST congress…this is a NEW congress, there’s nothing on the table now!!11!!!1″ Glad I wasn’t in the studio because I probably would’ve punched her.

IrishEi on February 24, 2013 at 8:52 PM

She’s right. That legislation died. Much like the hopes of a decent Senator from MO when a Huckabee-backed moron decided to opine on rape.

There isn’t anything on the table now. Harry Reid was given the House bill and completely ignored it along with all those budget bills. He and the Dems could have done something to avoid sequestration before now and they deliberately did not. They own sequestration.

“That’s where I think we should be spending our time, is talking about how we reduce gun violence. That’s the productive use of our time,” Duncan said. “Spending time talking about stupid issues like this in Congress doesn’t make sense.”

Well, if that is where you would be spending your time — looking for ways to abrogate our second amendment rights if you didn’t have to be spending that time working on the sequester issue, then we need more issues like the sequester issue. It will keep you wannabe tyrants from taking away our freedoms and liberties or forcing us to spend scarce money on stout hemp rope to keep you from taking away our freedom and liberties.